Worth The Wait

These are the days when anxious eyes make daily searches for native woodland plants that have been moved into our gardens.  If there is a more brazen presentation than these Trout Lilies, we do not know such a plant.  These yellow petals were closed tightly in response to last night's freezing temperatures.  In the heat of today they are thrust way back, boldly revealing the sexual parts of each flower.  The long brown colored rods are evenly split between male and female.  The longer ones with the end to end groove are female.  The groove will collect pollen.  The shorter thicker grainy rods are male and we have yet to see an insect move the pollen from grainy to groove.  Wind may well be the pollinating force.  We have discovered that Trout Lilies are wildly invasive and have crowded out other prized plants.

Finally my leg injuries have healed and working while on hands and knees is now possible.  Nearby oak trees had a great growing year and their fallen leaves may well have shaded out parts of the Arbutus plants.  Hand picking leaf litter from a native plant seems to be a contradiction on some level but these transplanted treasures continue to receive tender care.  For the first time today we saw dead Arbutus stems and leaves.  Death must be a part of the natural order but these plants must outlast me so perhaps overprotective care continues.

The wire cage that keeps marauding woodchucks and rabbits on the outside has been replaced so these plants are now free to generously grow.  We intend to take cuttings from the edge in an attempt to create new plants taking only growth that would be otherwise eaten.  Failure is seldom the last word here and we now know that strong rooting compound is needed to establish new plants.

Tucked in among the speckled Trout Lily leaves are newly emerging Trillium plants.  Root removal of the encroaching plants will not be undertaken but leaf pruning is a definite possibility.  For now the close side by side placement seems to be working but there is no question that the Trilliums are the desired plants.  So we will meddle with these native beauties again as we transplanted both here.  There is always tuition for everything we learn but we will try to avoid the loss of the Trilliums at least in the short run.